By ADAM COULTER
Salina Post Contributor
Sacred Heart was on the road for the second straight week on Friday night as they took on Minneapolis. The Knights (0-2) came into the game having to shuffle and rearrange their starting lineup due to a handful of injuries as the Lions (2-0) defended their home field with a shutout victory.
Minneapolis scored on their first offensive drive and never looked back as the Lions' Owen Just connected with Zach Nelson to make the score 7-0 early in the opening quarter.
Thanks to excellent play by the Knights' defense, the Minneapolis lead would remain at one possession for most of the first half, but a short touchdown run by Ryan Parks made the Sacred Heart deficit 14-0 at the half.
The Knights alternated between Evan Bogart and Michael Matteucci at quarterback in an effort to get Matteucci the ball in open space which did lead to a few big Sacred Heart gains, but failed to bring the Knights within striking distance.
An Owen Just rushing touchdown made the score 20-0 and a Braylon Smith run extended the Minneapolis advantage to 27-0 after three quarters. Ryan Meyer rounded out the scoring in the final period forcing a fumble and scoring a defensive touchdown to make the final tally 34-0.
Sacred Heart will play its first home game of the season as Ellsworth travels to Salina next Friday night.
The game will be streamed live and can be heard and seen on salinapost.com. Pregame will begin at 6:40 followed by a 7 pm kickoff.